


A Totally Normal Meeting That Is Not Suspicious At All

by NoisyNoiverns



Category: Mass Effect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 05:27:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8150635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoisyNoiverns/pseuds/NoisyNoiverns
Summary: The Council knows more than it lets on. It's safer that way.





	

**Author's Note:**

> for mass effect flash fanwork on tumblr.... the prompt for september was "secrets"

Councilor Tevos D’Mirosi was not an easy asari to wake. Not only was she a naturally heavy sleeper, but the stress of her work kept her up at night enough that her doctor had started to insist on sleeping medication centuries ago. On top of that, she slept under several heavy blankets, and the heat and weight of them made her very reluctant to open her eyes in the morning.

So when she was roused by the shriek of her omni-tool in the middle of the night, it was already halfway through her ringtone. By the time she’d found the energy to pull back the covers so she could pick it up off the bedside table, it was already off, and cheerfully blinking at her to alert her to a new message. With a grumbling sort of sigh, she slipped the little band around her wrist and activated the interface, squinting against the sudden bright light.

She fumbled at it for a moment until she found the brightness setting and dimmed it, then played the message. A bored, vaguely irritated voice floated out of the little speakers, saying, “Hey, Tev. Just thought you’d want to know there’s a ghost wandering around Omega. Remember your little human Spectre, Shepard? They just waltzed into Afterlife for a chat. Scanners said they’re clean, so I don’t know how, but they’re the real deal. Might want to keep an eye open.”

Still foggy from sleep, it took a moment for Tevos to process what had been said, but once the concept of “Shepard is alive” managed to filter through, her eyes snapped open, and the exhaustion drained away. “Goddess,” she breathed, gaze locked on something off in the dark beyond her extended forearm.

Before she was even fully conscious of what she was doing, her free hand was punching in keys and numbers, and the single screen hovering above her omni-tool split into two separate ones. The drone of the dial tone brought her back to her senses in time for the call on the left to pick up, and she shook her head slightly as two massive, bulbous black eyes ringed in stark red membranes stared pensively back at her.

Valern, she knew, wouldn’t have been asleep. First of all, salarians only slept for an hour a day, and second, Valern preferred to get that single hour in the middle of the work day. Judging by the headset encircling his horns, she’d merely interrupted a video game. He always looked cross, she’d noticed ages ago, with a mouth perpetually turned down at the sides and tattoos arcing over his eyes to make them look narrowed. He’d aged a lot since Sovereign’s attack, bearing more wrinkled skin with each passing month, and while he’d never actually told her his age, she assumed he had to have entered the stage of the salarian lifespan wherein their aging accelerated almost exponentially, possibly even triggered early by the stress of the Destiny Ascension.

That particular stage, experience told her, also meant he was less likely to appreciate being disturbed.

“Valern,” she greeted with a respectful nod, “I’m sorry to bother you this late at night, but it’s urgent.”

“It better be,” he said, one eye roaming to look at the vidscreen she assumed was behind her call. “This time of night is the only time I get to myself without you idiots pestering me.”

She suppressed a groan. “I’ll explain when- oh!”

The other call had connected, but rather than one face looking back at her, there was two. The one she’d been after, Ierian Sparatus himself, was lower on the screen, his arm clearly stretched as far as possible so as to fit the smaller, crestless head of his mate balanced on his shoulder. Two sets of mandibles flicking back and forth, two discordant rumbles of subvocals, two mouths full of very sharp teeth displayed so Tevos was aware of exactly how the two turians felt about being woken, and four half-focused, bloodshot, slit-pupiled eyes glowering back at her.

Tevos took a split second to compose herself, then nodded respectfully to them, as she had to Valern. “Ierian, Aediteia. I’m truly _very_ sorry for waking you, but it’s important.”

Aediteia yawned, prompting Ierian to start yawning a moment after. “Two sentences or less, Tevos,” Ierian mumbled when he was done, mandibles drooping. “I’m too tired for this.”

“Yes, get on with it, already,” Valern groused.

Tevos bit the inside of her cheek. “It’s Shepard,” she said. “They’re back.”

There was silence for what felt like ages. Then there was rustling, and Valern pulled his headset off and set it aside. Though she couldn’t see his hands, she heard some quiet popping, and assumed he’d cracked his knuckles. “You should have _started_ with that. This isn’t a conversation we should be having over comm. I’ll be at the usual place in half an hour.”

Tevos nodded in acknowledgement, and Valern’s end cut out. Ierian, meanwhile, had slowly turned his head downward to press it into the pillows, and was currently letting out a long, low groan. Aediteia patted the back of his cowl, then glanced back at Tevos. “He’ll be along in a moment,” she said, flicking a mandible. “Come on, dear…”

Tevos rubbed at her right eye. “If it’s any consolation, Ierian, I’d rather go back to bed, as well. Unfortunately…”

“It’s too important, I know,” Ierian grumbled, pulling his head back up and nudging Aediteia off his shoulder. “Go back to sleep, Teia. I’ll bring back breakfast.”

She hummed and hauled herself off. “No, you don’t have to do that.”

“Consider it an apology for _my_ work waking _you_ up.” He stretched his neck out to give her a light kiss, drawing a sleepy squeal from her.

“Well, if you insist,” she mused, rolling over and out of view of the camera. “You know what I like.”

Ierian made an affectionate sort of noise, then pushed himself up into a kneeling position. “I’ll be there shortly, Tevos. I’ll stop for caffeine along the way, do you want anything?”

“Just a coffee, thank you, Ierian. I’ll see you there.”

* * *

The “usual place” was a secluded part of the Presidium park nearest the Citadel Tower, sheltered by trees and a lonely bench facing a small lake. The lake itself was connected to the below-ground waterways used by groundskeepers to keep the water from stagnating and by salarians to get around the Presidium faster than they could by foot.

It was _technically_ illegal, but, well, the waterways had a fair number of very high-profile users, and nobody wanted to be the one to report a councilor or senior ambassador to C-Sec, so everyone pretended they saw nothing.

True to form, Valern was already there by the time Tevos arrived, sitting patiently at the edge of the lake with his legs in the water. The Presidium was still in the middle of its night cycle, but he didn’t appear bothered by the dark, merely twitching when the light cast by Tevos’s omni-tool flashlight app fell on him. She could see drops of water still falling from his horns.

She took a seat on the bench, fighting shivers and wishing she’d thought to bring a jacket. The Presidium’s temperature was regulated along with the lighting, and night cycle temperatures were always just a little too cold for her tastes, especially so soon after leaving her warm blankets. “I thought you’d get here first.”

“How astute,” he deadpanned, one webbed foot rising above the surface so Valern could watch the water cascade off it. “I left the call first, and I live closest to the Presidium. Of _course_ I am.”

She grimaced at his back. She’d learned years ago not to take Valern’s thorny personality to heart; either it was a ploy to keep his guard up in case of dalatrass spies, or he simply didn’t like anybody. Regardless, he tolerated both her and Ierian, and that was what mattered. “Who followed you?”

“Bau.” Valern turned to eye her as she suppressed a sigh of relief. Jondum Bau was well-liked in the salarian embassy for his willingness to keep a secret, Tevos knew, and wouldn’t dare repeat anything he overheard tonight unless he thought it necessary. “You?”

“T’Nelas.” Also a good Spectre, if new by asari standards (so, she’d only had the job for a few decades). A trustworthy secret-keeper, despite being a notorious gossip when it came to less confidential news. “Any sign of Ierian?”

“Try turning around,” came the dual-toned rumble behind her. Before she could, a plated hand was reaching over her shoulder, offering the requested cup of coffee. She accepted it, and Ierian rounded the bench and came into view, yawning wide enough that Tevos heard a muffled pop from his jaw. Just beyond him, she could see a massive, armored brown turian taking up position leaning against a tree, scanning the area Tevos had her back to for threats. She couldn’t make out much of them, but light from a distant street lamp cast a faint gleam over the Spectre logo on their shoulder. That would be Ierian’s guard, then. “Morning. Is it morning yet?”

“It’s been morning for two hours and thirty-four minutes.” Valern laid down so he could look at the both of them, crossing his arms behind his head like a pillow.

Ierian took a long drink from the travel mug clutched in one hand. “Then let’s make this quick. I only have another three hours before my alarm goes off.”

Tevos nodded, wrapping her fingers around the coffee and taking a moment to appreciate the heat. “Of course.” Her voice sounded terrible, so she cleared her throat and began again. “A short while ago, I was woken by an incoming call.”

“Wow, same, imagine that,” Ierian grumbled, and Valern snickered.

Tevos shot him a look, but supposed this was what she got for waking up an already notoriously surly turian in the middle of the night. “Anyway, my… an informant in Terminus saw Shepard on Omega. She claims Aria’s people scanned them, and it came back positive, so we have to assume it’s the real Shepard.”

“That’s impossible.” Ierian’s mandibles flared out sharply. “They _died_. The Alliance was combing over that entire system for _months_ and found nothing.”

“Well, apparently they missed something, because Aria’s scanners are near-impossible to fool. I don’t know how, but somehow she keeps getting top-of-the-line technology for that sort of thing. Nothing gets past her.”

Valern lifted a foot out of the water, then smacked it back down on the surface. “I know a few people. I can put in some calls, find out what’s possible. It’ll take a few days, but if resurrection technology is possible, they’ll know soon enough.”

Tevos nodded to him. “Thank you, Valern. Now, if it really _is_ Shepard…”

“We have to get ready for them to show back up and start howling about stupid Reapers again,” Ierian finished for her, scrunching his nasal plates in distaste. “As if we don’t get enough from Anderson…”

Tevos pursed her lips. “I know you’re tired of hearing about it, Ierian, but we need to keep up the façade for a little while longer. The longer Anderson and Shepard think we don’t care about their warnings, the safer our operations will be.”

“Not if Shepard’s wandering around with full Spectre privileges, they won’t,” Valern pointed out. “Special Tactics authority will mean Shepard can go anywhere they want, without question. If we let them just traipse around the galaxy, they’ll find what we’re up to, no doubt about it.”

“Then we don’t let them,” she said firmly. “Ierian, where is the Hierarchy centering its preparations?”

“Scattered, like a _reasonable_ military,” Ierian said. He paused to take a drink, then continued, “The engineering corps is retrofitting and upgrading every ship they can get their claws on. My cousin’s widow is in charge of the work at Cipritine. Good woman, nasty temper. Her son works in the embassy, so he’s been feeding me reports. There’s efforts going on at every major hub, on each of our populated planets and major space stations. Primarch Fedorian tells me he has the military leaders increasing training as quickly as they can without alerting anyone that anything’s on the horizon.”

Valern twitched a membrane. “The Union has nearly completed their work. Upgrading surveillance, dispatching extra STG units to the colonies further out, our usual. All quietly, of course. The dalatrasses are split on whether or not it’s really necessary, but Mannovai and Jaeto are on board, so most of the lesser colonies are following their lead.”

Tevos nodded, leaning back in her seat. “It’s been a while since I checked in with asari preparations, but I was assured they’re coming along. We’ll each need to check in with the other species, and soon, to make sure. We just need to keep the Alliance from seeing us.”

“The Alliance are doing their own work, aren’t they?” Ierian asked, tracing patterns in the coffee foam with one talon. “Anderson raves about the whole thing so much, I stopped paying attention last year.”

“Of course they are.” Valern snorted, lips curling up in a rare, somewhat distressingly malicious-looking smile. “Even if Anderson wasn’t terrible at keeping secrets, my people have enough bugs in their system to keep track of their movements and actions down to which private-first-class delivered Admiral Hackett’s coffee yesterday morning.”

“I just want to establish something fast, that’s still _really_ creepy.” Ierian shuddered.

“Maybe to you. Maybe to you.”

Tevos rubbed at her temples with one hand. It was far too early for this sort of thing. “Anyway,” she pressed, “regardless of what the Alliance is up to, we need them to think we’re not. If Shepard comes back to the Citadel, do whatever you have to to make them be quiet about Reapers.”

Valern and Ierian looked at each other. “So…” Valern ventured, “are you saying we’re allowed to be… _rude?_ To the Alliance’s _golden child?_ Are you feeling alright, Tevos?”

Tevos grimaced at him. “I’m just saying, if they start to insist, do whatever it takes. We can’t afford them finding our preparations and blowing everything up.”

“Here’s an idea,” Ierian said, now looking down into his cup and swirling it lazily with a claw. “Why _don’t_ we tell Shepard? They’re the one who told us about the Reapers, they should at least know we’re not sitting around picking petals off of flowers all day.”

Tevos and Valern were quiet for a moment, then Valern mused, “That’s… a fair point. Shepard usually keeps their word. If they agree to stay out of it, they likely will.”

Tevos considered, propping her chin in one hand. “Well, I suppose we could… Wait, what about Anderson? If he’s there when we tell Shepard, he’ll be furious we didn’t let him in on it.”

Valern snorted. “Stupid humans. So entitled. Can’t fathom why we might not trust them…”

Ierian grumbled. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? If Shepard comes to us alone, we tell them. If Anderson’s there, we play dumb. Simple as that.”

Tevos thought about this, then slowly nodded. “So we’re agreed?”

The other two glanced at each other, then nodded, and she heaved a sigh. “Good. Thank you both for coming out so late, I know it’s not an ideal time.”

Ierian stood up, tossing back the rest of his coffee and swallowing it all in one go. “Buy lunch tomorrow, and we’ll call it even.”

“Fine. Oh, and, Ierian, please apologize to Aediteia for me, too, would you?”

Valern snorted, pulling his legs out of the water and getting to his feet. “You’ll be fine. She _likes_ you.”

Ierian rolled his eyes. “Well, maybe if _somebody_ hadn’t taught the grandchildren five different salarian swear words…”

“Oh, that was hardly my fault!”

Tevos watched them bicker, then sighed and looked back into her coffee. With any luck, they wouldn’t wear themselves out before work even started.


End file.
